Thursday, March 30, 2017

Help Support Our Cause: On-line Petition Gone Wrong

Perhaps you have signed one of the numerous online petitions constantly circulating through various outlets of social media. Gayle Linkletter did, and her employment agreement with Western & Southern Financial Group, Inc., a Cincinnati insurance company, was rescinded because of it. Linkletter accepted a position with Western & Southern in 2014 and, before she began working, Western & Southern notified her that it was rescinding its offer of employment because she took a “position that was contrary to Western & Southern.” The company discovered that in 2012, Linkletter had signed an online petition in support of a women’s shelter; the shelter had been in a controversial real estate dispute with the Western & Southern since 2011. Residents of the women shelter, Anna Louise Inn, alleged that Western & Southern was in violation of the Fair Housing Act by attempting to illegally force them out of the neighborhood.

In response to the employment rescission, Linkletter filed suit against Western & Southern, alleging that the company violated the Fair Housing Act by interfering with her employment after she encouraged residents of the women’s shelter to enforce their rights under the Fair Housing Act. Specifically, Linkletter alleged that she encouraged the residents’ rights under 42 U.S.C. § 3604, an anti-discrimination provision concerning the rental or sale of housing. The district court dismissed Linkletter’s suit, stating that Linkletter did not “aid or encourage” the female residents of the shelter as contemplated by the statute.

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